Motivation Tips
A common answer to the question, "How can I motivate other people?" is "You can't. Motivation only comes from within the other person".
To some extent this is true. As we have seen, motivation is a state of person's perspective. As such, it lies within that person and is a function of a particular assumptions and perceptions which determine that person's valued rewards and expectancies of achieving those rewards. This has been discussed in the beginning of this lesson.
However, a manager most definitely can affect the level of motivation of another. He or she can work to provide the appropriate reward and can work on the values and expectations of employees. In general, this is done through exercising one or all three of the forms of influence towards other described earlier.
Specific actions to motivate others
Managerial action, in general, can take four forms:
1. Provide more of the valued rewards to the person.
2. Change the values of the person toward the rewards which are available.
3. Improve the person's perception of the behavior-reward linkage.
4. Improve the reality of the behavior-reward linkage.
the first two of these deal with actions which affect the goals which people value as outcome for their work; the latter two deal with their expectation of whether the paths available to them will lead to those rewards. Let us see how each of the three forms of influence may be used to achieve one or more of these four forms of action.
With respect to individual motivation, and in the context of the path-goal theory, managerial action which constitutes indirect influence is aimed at arranging the appropriate strategies, structures and policies to encourage and support motivated people to achieve organization goals. This includes, for example, establishing incentive and reward system which will be valued by employees. Indirect influence also includes selecting and employing people who have necessary skills and who value the kinds of rewards available in the organization. Finally, indirect influence includes developing in oneself and others the managerial skills, particularly the management style of pattern of behavior in dealing with subordinates, which will have the effect of creating higher motivation. We shall say more about the selection and development of management style for an individual manager below, for it is an element of organizational input for indirect influence and face-to-face direct influence as well.
Semi-direct influence, it will be recalled, is exercised when a manager acts to affect an individual through his or her social relationships at work. Direct influence on the individual involves communications and the personal face-to-face relationship. A manager who attempts to increase the level of motivation through direct influence is typically trying to do the second and third actions mentioned above the respect to that person's value and expectations. Thus, the manager may work overtime to convince an employee to value more highly the rewards already existing and available in the organization. This may be particularly difficult in times of major social change, as occurred at least temporarily in the united States during the late 1960s. At that time, young employees were not particularly attracted to the long-term rewards which result from loyalty to organizations, such as promotion and higher pay.
The other form of action for direct influence is to improve the employee's perception of the linkage between behavior and reward. This might involve, for example, personal conversations about what can result from certain levels of performance, such as promotion, bonus, or greater responsibility.
As important as what to do to motivate others is the question of how to do it. We turn now to a closer look at a manager's behavior required to motivate others. To do this, we discuss management style and leadership.
In working relationships with others, anne particularly in direct influence in motivating others, a manager exhibits one or more characteristics styles of behavior. We may define management style as the pattern of a manager's behavior in working relationships with other over time. This definition is relatively loose being more a concept than a precise variable. In order to do more precise, we need to set up one or more categories of behavior characteristics where employees for the one reason or another see their work only as a means to economic rewards. A second style is a supportive, people oriented, humanistic style, which may be appropriate for employees who value social rewards. a third is a participative, mutual goal-setting style in which the manager works with subordinates who value autonomy and are rewarded by self-fulfillment.
In a way, then we say that a manager who holds one of the three basic sets of assumptions about what motivates others should exhibit a style which is consistent with those assumptions in order to provide the appropriate means to exercise direct influence. In other words, managers need to understand what rewards subordinators value, and behave in a pattern which will fit with that understanding as one part of providing a consistent environment for the employee.
